Financial Monitoring
The balance of revenues and expenditure Revenue Expenditure Resources Monthly operational costs and revenue
The balance of revenues and expenditure Revenue Expenditure Resources Monthly operational costs and revenue
Last year featured a large project of fixing the church roof, which pushed the budget into red figures. Although the reparation works dragged due to technical issues, they were finalized in August (see box for more detailed information). An upleasant event was fire, which broke out in the church on 11 November. Its causes are until now unclear.
Following a deficit in 2022, the budget returned to a stunning surplus in 2023. This was largely thanks to the church roof replacement project scheduled for 2024, for which we organized special collections and limited reparations to recurring roof damages. The primary objective of 2023 was securing repair of the church roof, which had deteriorated significantly. We were successful in launching a call for tenders and selecting the winning company. Reparation work was scheduled to begin in early 2024, despite the fact that we have not acquired 100% of the necessary money, which will be an important goal for 2024.
After a 2021 surplus year, the budget returned to a deficit in 2022 mainly on account of a steep increase in energy prices, unexpected taxation imposed by the Belgian authorities, recurrent outlays on the reparation of the church roof, as well as further reconstruction works in the basement of the church. On the revenue side, while mass receipts increased somewhat, they remained well below the pre-pandemic levels. In view of the required investments, especially the repair of the church roof, FE will need to look for the necessary resources of financing. Given the limited room to cut spending, the main venue will need to be through increasing the revenue from the faithful.
After two deficit years, the budget returned to a surplus in 2021, thanks to a slow convergence of revenues to the pre-crisis levels and a somewhat restrained investment activity, which kept expenditures relatively low. Nevertheless, this positive development hides some trends that need deeper reflection. On the revenue side, mass collections continued to decline despite a partial and later a full reopening of liturgical celebrations. On the expenditure side, the energy costs in 2021 include only advances not fully reflecting a hike in energy costs in 2021. This will be accounted for only in 2022 after the annual settlement. More importantly, the repetitive thunderstorms have on several occasions damaged the roof of the church, which had to be fixed and it will require full refurbishment in the near future. The expenditures are hence not expected to ease in the coming years. To finance expected elevated spending, the revenue side will need to be supported by additional income.
In 2018, the FE reached a surplus of 11 258 €, which was lower than in 2017. On the revenue side this was mainly due to a shortfall of rental revenue and methodological changes (see below). The expenditures were on the other side higher especially due to a refurbishment of the church apartment (see below) and higher heating costs.